Great is Thy Faithfulness

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 The whole Israelite community complained against Moses and Aaron in the desert. 3 The Israelites said to them, “Oh, how we wish that the Lord had just put us to death while we were still in the land of Egypt. There we could sit by the pots cooking meat and eat our fill of bread. Instead, you’ve brought us out into this desert to starve this whole assembly to death.” 4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I’m going to make bread rain down from the sky for you. The people will go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way, I’ll test them to see whether or not they follow my Instruction.

9 Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole Israelite community, ‘Come near to the Lord, because he’s heard your complaints.’” 10 As Aaron spoke to the whole Israelite community, they turned to look toward the desert, and just then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared in the cloud.

11 The Lord spoke to Moses, 12 “I’ve heard the complaints of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat. And in the morning you will have your fill of bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’” 13 In the evening a flock of quail flew down and covered the camp. And in the morning there was a layer of dew all around the camp. 14 When the layer of dew lifted, there on the desert surface were thin flakes, as thin as frost on the ground. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” They didn’t know what it was. Moses said to them, “This is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.

INTRO

This week we are examining God’s Faithfulness toward us. Part of the inspiration for this sermon comes from the great hymn of the church Great is Thy Faithfulness. I have always found it interesting that this great hymn begins by naming God’s faithfulness. “All I have needed thy hand hath provided, Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me.” Have you ever wonder why the chorus of the hymn was written this way? Perhaps it is because before one can respond to God’s faithfulness in their lives they must first acknowledge God’s gracious actions in our lives. So like the hymn must begin by naming God’s gracious actions throughout the church’s history.

Perhaps you’re wondering why we choose Exodus? Why not use the Gospel of John? Doesn’t Jesus proclaim he is the bread of life? This story of God’s gift of “bread from heaven” is a core part of the testimony of the church. It is a foundational story of how God is faithful even in a desert places of life. Many times, throughout scripture (Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Nehemiah, Psalms, John, Hebrews, Revelation, etc) we find God giving the gift of bread from heaven. However, Exodus 16 is the first place in the Bible where this occurs.

Earlier in the book of Exodus, Moses was tasked with leading the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land. Prior to our text, Moses had led the people out of Egypt through the Red Sea. Pharaoh’s army drowned and the people were delivered. After this deliverance the people of Israel gave thanks and praise to God for liberating them from slavery in Egypt.

Then the journey began, and the mood begins to shift quickly. For it was a difficult journey through the desert and as the journey wore on the people began grumbling. As their food rations continued to dwindle, their joy and their wonder at God’s acts of salvation was overtaken by hunger, fear, and anger. Maybe they couldn’t fully live into who God called them to be in Egypt, but at least they could eat! As one theologian notes, “Rather than face contemporary challenges, people focus on the past and forget all if its challenges. They romanticize it. Israel seems to forget even slavery, bondage, and the mighty acts of God; instead, they focus on Pharaoh and the security that sin can offer.”[1] Rather, then placing their hope in the God who is leading them from the present into the future they are lost in their love for the way things used to be.

Many times in our lives we find ourselves in this very place. We end up in desert living. We face challenges, much like we have this last year, that we never have faced before. Instead of focusing on God’s faithfulness, instead of focusing on the ways in which we have been blessed by God, we would rather dwell on the past. We look at all that’s wrong with the world rather than what is right. We focus on the number of people we had in church, how big the youth group was, or we spend time questioning the future to the point that we fail to see the God who is present with us now. We forget the struggles that we have been through. We forget God’s gracious actions in our lives. We instead memorialize a false narrative that brightens the past, dims the present, and darkens the future. Often, we even begin to take comfort in sinful activities and ways of living that seem to provide us with more security than to trust in where God’s leading. Maybe, we decide to tithe less until we know where the church is heading or until we feel our voice is heard. Maybe, we cling to the idea of filled pews instead of focusing on who is and is not coming and looking into our neighborhoods for how we can witness to the love of God.

Our negativity distorts our view of how God is at work in such a way that sin, slavery, and bondage looks or appears to be more comforting in comparison to the challenges we see in our future. So we like the Israelites begin to complain. The Hebrew word that is translated as “complain” appears three times in our text today. The connotation of this verb is less about complaining and more about rebellion. Placed in context, rather than complaining to God, the Israelites are more likely in open revolt. They are so “harmed” by God’s treatment of them in the desert that they would prefer a change in leadership. The Israelites would rather abandon their relationship with the living God and return to worshiping idols than continue in relationship with this God who has led them into the desert.[2]

I imagine that at one time or another we have been in this place too. Things aren’t going right for us. We pray and pray and pray, but it doesn’t seem like God is intervening in the situations of our lives. We get fixated on living the “American Dream.” If we just work hard enough we can make it ourselves. We don’t need a God who lets us wander through life’s deserts alone! We can do it ourselves. And in this frame of mind, we are abandoning our relationship with the living God and worshipping the idol of individualism.

When we get to the place of abandoning our relationship with God, when we choose to worship various idols in our lives, we run the danger of living into a cynical attitude. When we look at what’s wrong in the world instead of focusing on what’s right things begin to go astray. We replace our hope in God with sentimentality for our past. Rather than go back to physical Egypt, we prefer, as Rev. Dr. Greg Jones states, to go back to our own Egypts. We want the church full. We want the programs we used to have. But the truth of the matter is, we can’t go back to Egypt. Things will never be exactly like they were in the past. We, like the Israelites, romanticize the past. We gloss over the struggles that we have been through and remember only the warm, happy moments of success. We cling to these memories as a means of avoiding the challenges of the present. Instead, we must look to the future trusting God’s guidance along the way as we are once again pushed, prodded, and challenged to grow in our faith.

The complaints or the rebellion of the Israelites are not met with the threat of death nor are they judged for their complaints. God hears their complaint and responded by meeting the needs they have voice. God responses by showing up…the presence of God as found in the manna is almost lost in the passage. Yet, God makes God’s glory known by demonstrating God’s commitment to the community of faith. One commentator notes, “God thus begins to reveal to them God’s nature as a deity who is present in their midst, even in the heart of the barren wilderness, who saves them from oppression and sustains them in their direst need.”[3]

For Moses and the Israelites, food was an immediate concern. The deeper need is found in the challenge of becoming their own community. For the past 430 years, the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. Sure, they had food and shelter, but they had to work and live around the Egyptian’s schedule. They had never been able to be a community of their own. The desert narratives of Exodus is the space where they try, fail, and are challenged again and again with how to become an authentic community. Yet, all throughout their struggles God sustains them.

Perhaps the questions we need to ask today is… how is God sustaining us? How is God forming us just as God formed and shaped the Israelites? How is God working through all the changes we have experienced this past year? How is God renewing us for the work of ministry we are being called too? Brothers and sisters in Christ it is not enough to continue to cling to what was or to what worked in the past. Where is God leading us as a church that has been through so much?

God has blessed us and continues to bless our congregation. But the lesson of the blessing, the lesson of God’s faithfulness is that God’s faithfulness requires a response from us. God gave the Israelites gifts of manna, quail and the ability to form their own community. God has blessed us with a church building, with people to serve and to be served, with resources to build God’s kingdom here on Earth. But we must respond to God’s faithfulness in our lives. You see when we receive these gifts from God, we are also “tested” as to whether or not we will follow God’s instructions. Much like the Israelites were told to only gather enough, we too are called to use our resources wisely as a church and as individuals. As individuals we are called to use what we have so that we all might have enough, and we are called to share our “extra” resources with others.

As we manifest this in communities of faith, we must exist not just for sustaining our worshiping communities, but we must take what is beyond our enough and share in ways that cares for the other. We are to call one another and invite others in to our congregations as we strive to shape our lives around God. While we will not go out and gather bread in the morning and catch quail in the evening, our lives should have a rhythm and movement that revolve around God’s revelation to us through Jesus Christ. How can our patterns of living, our worship, our fellowship, and other church activities inform and transform our lives and the lives of others?  How can we move from maintaining the status quo of our church and move more fully into Missional giving?

As we move forward in mission and ministry, as we journey through the deserts of our lives, our life together and work toward re-emerging on the other side of the deserts, we are called to remember God’s faithfulness. Just as God was faithful to the Israelites even when they could not see it, God has always been faithful to us. And God will continue to be faithful to us so long as we trust God.

In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.